IAD

IAD: 5 Things We Love about Washington Dulles International Airport

Our “5 Things We Love About…” series celebrates features and amenities at airports around the country and the world.

Today, we are landing at Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD).

We know that right now some of the features we mention might be temporarily unavailable due to health concerns. But we are confident they will be back.

Did we miss your favorite amenity at Dulles International Airport (IAD)? Let us know in the comments section below.

Have an airport you’d like to see featured in the “5 Things We Love About…” series? Make your nomination in the comments section as well.

5 Thing We Love About Dulles International Airport

1. The IAD Main Terminal Building

Opened in 1962 as the country’s first ‘jet-age’ airport, Dulles International Airport is perhaps best-known for architect Eero Saarinen’s iconic curved-roof design for the main terminal.

2. The mobile lounges at IAD

These days, many passengers at IAD move between concourses on the underground AeroTrain, a 3.78-mile underground people mover system.

But IAD’s historic mobile lounges are in still in use.

IAD’s mobile lounges transport international arriving passengers from their arrival gate to the International Arrivals Building. The mobile lounges shuttle passengers between the main terminal and the concourses, and between concourse. And when airplanes are parked on a remote hardstand, the mobile lounges ferry passengers to the main terminal.

3. The historic FAA air traffic control tower at IAD

The original Airport Traffic Control Tower (ATCT) at Dulles International Airport dates to the airport’s opening in 1962 and remains on-site because of its historical significance to the airport’s design.

A new tower was dedicated in 2007 and is about one mile from the original tower.

4. Kids play area at IAD

What can we say? Sometimes kids have all the fun at the airport.

5. Only airport with Chipotle breakfast

Want a breakfast burrito made by Chipotle? The only place you will find that on the Chipotle menu is at Dulles International Airport.

Bonus: Pat Nixon christens 1st 747

Back on January 15, 1970 then-First Lady Pat Nixon christened the first commercial Boeing 747 during a ceremony at Dulles International Airport.

She also got to sit inside the plane’s cockpit.

White House Photo
White House photo

Take a look at some of the other airports in the “5 Things We Love About...” series.

Travel Tidbits: airports offer art, history & music

MKE Slalom

“Slalom” at Milwaukee’s General Mitchell Int’l Airport

Milwaukee’s General Mitchell International Airport has a new piece of art – a kinetic work by Tim Prentice called Slalom in the baggage claim area.

The piece includes a gently undulating ribbon of reflective kinetic elements that float overhead and weave through the building’s support columns and will create an “ever-changing sequence of varied and unpredictable effects,” said Prentice.

SFO Museum presents: I Love You, California

SFO SNAKE

Red diamond rattlesnake skeleton. Courtesy of Ray Bandar & SFO Museum

At San Francisco International Airport, the SFO Museum is presenting “I Love You, California,” an exhibit exploring the state’s natural history through the collections of the California Academy of Sciences. Look for “invertebrates from abalone to deep sea squid, birds such as acorn woodpeckers and tufted puffins, plant pressings including the state flower, the California poppy, land and marine mammal skulls, fossils, and a myriad of minerals,” illustrating the diversity of the “Golden State.”

The exhibit is in the Departures Level, pre-security, of SFO’s International Terminal through January, 2016, but if you don’t think you’ll be going that way before then you can see a selection of the items displayed here.

Free concerts

And in the Washington, D.C. area, Washington Dulles International Airport and Reagan National Airport are presenting the fifth season of the Summer Jazz Series of free concerts.

DCA JAZZ

At Dulles, the concerts will take place near the East Security Checkpoint on the ticketing level between 2:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. On Thursday July 30th, Two Smooth Duo will offer R&B tunes; on Thursday August 13, Lennard Jack and Fusion will play Caribbean jazz.

At Reagan National, concerts will be held from 12:30 to 2 p.m. pre-security on the Concourse Level across from Cosi near Terminal C or across from Cibo near Terminal B. The line-up includes the Heart Song Trio on Thursday, July 23, Lennard Jackson and Fusion on Friday, July 31 and the Potomac Jazz Project (classical jazz) on both Thursday, August 6 and Thursday, August 13. More details here.

(More) fresh airport art – at DCA & IAD

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Arts Program has rolled out two new exhibits – one at at Ronald Reagan Washington National and another at Washington Dulles International Airport. Both will be on display until May 30.

American Hollyhock


American Hollyhock,” by artist Beata Murawska is one of the works on display at Reagan National Airport.

At Reagan National Airport “Color of Joy: An International Perspective” showcases art from around the world, including collages, abstract, mixed-media and other artistic expressions. Look for the exhibit in the airport’s Gallery Walk art corridor, near the underground walkway connecting Terminal A with the parking garages.

Fall near Sycamore Island

“Down By the River” is at Washington Dulles International Airport in the Gateway Gallery, located in the connecting walkway between the AeroTrain C-Gates and the C Concourse.

The exhibit includes photos of scenes along the Potomac River and were provided by the f11Women’s Photography Collective, which has more than 40 photos on display at the airport.

Travel Tidbits from IAD, ORD and Midway Airports

ARPAN

Indian Classical and Bollywood dance performances from the ARPAN Dance Academy at Dulles Int’l Airport on May 17

Dulles International Airport is marking Asian-Pacific Heritage Month with a series of musical performances and educational events, including girl groups from South Korea, traditional Japanese Taiko drums; Gangnam Style dancing and other traditional Filipino, Afghan and Indian performances.

The full schedule is listed here.

May is also Military Appreciation Month at Chicago’s O’Hare and Midway Airports.

The airports, the United Service Organization (USO) and airport concessionaires are sponsoring events and programs for passengers and special discounts for military personnel and their families.

On Tuesdays donation bins will be set up at USO centers at both airports to accept food items, phone calling cards, video games and personal care items for use by military personnel and their families traveling through Chicago’s airports. There will also be information tables set up where passengers can fill out “Thank A Hero” note cards for those serving in the military. And there will be live entertainment provided by high school drill teams, blues and jazz bands and samba dancers at both airports on Fridays, May 3, 10, 17, 24 and 31 from 2 to 5 p.m.